Randi Zuckerberg — commonly known as “Mark’s sister” — left Facebook in 2011 and started her own
company, Zuckerberg Media.

The former Facebook executive has also launched a project to help people shape their online
identities.

Zuckerberg has written two new books: one,
Dot Complicated: Untangling Our Wired Lives, aimed at adults; and one,
Dot., intended primarily for children in a digital age.

She talked recently about the books — and how parenthood has changed her view of the online
world.

Q: What was the inspiration for the books?

A: I’m always looking for new and innovative ways to market things, and it struck me: I wonder
how many authors have released a nonfiction book for adults and a children’s book together.

It struck me that this was a perfect topic for that sort of release. Children as young as 1 to 2
years old are navigating apps and are very tech-savvy from a young age, and parents are
overwhelmed.

Q: You say in Dot Complicated that parents should talk to kids about a tech-life balance. Were
you hoping that Dot. could act as a way into those conversations?

A: There are a few things there. As parents, we can talk to kids until we’re blue in the face,
but having another child talk to them in their language is often more effective. My other hope is
that
Dot. is a message for adults who could use the reminder to put down the phone.

Q: You talk a lot about the tech-life balance and its relation to the work-life balance. It’s
clear from the books that you think people have to find their own balance, but how do you recommend
they do that?

A: A lot depends on their line of work, for example. If you’re a doctor and you’re on call,
obviously I can’t tell you to unplug. But I can tell that to someone who’s a little more
9-to-5.

But I would say that, if you can find a chunk of time in the week — even if it’s a few hours —
to put down the devices to focus, you find you’ll come back to it more productive, refreshed and
energized.

Q: The age you recommend for a child’s first smartphone is between second and sixth grade. How
did you land on that range?

A: It’s a huge range, I know. But I talk to a lot of parents, and while I expected to find one
age for parents to say, “Yes, this is the right age,” I found that wasn’t the case.

There are a couple of things to consider. I’ve found that children with older siblings tend to
be more mature more quickly, and they’re ready for devices at a younger age. There are also just
kids who are more mature, more ready for these things.

Q: How old is your son? What habits are you setting for him?

A: He’s 2 1/2, which means he’s on the very early end of this. For him, I try to limit time on
iPhone and iPad when out of the house. I also try to make it seem special — not just something that
happens automatically all of the time. I’ve hand-selected some apps for drawing, music — things
like that (that) we can do together. It’s all aimed at being intellectually stimulated and engaged
instead of passively entertained.

Q: You make an interesting distinction between personal information and private information, and
what’s appropriate to share online. Could you talk about that?

A: In our real lives, there are basically three kinds of information: super-private information,
personal information — you know, stuff to share with moms at preschool but I’m not going to blast
it out to the world — and then there’s public information.

Online, that middle level of information is gone. You really only get super-super-private and
public information. But, as humans, so much falls into that middle category just as the distinction
for personal information is going away.

Most of the time when I post personal stuff on Facebook — 99 percent of the time — my friends
behave responsibly and don’t share it inappropriately. But it only takes one person to not behave
responsibly. So a lot of times, if I’m part of a wedding party or something, we’ll make a group for
the bridesmaids. But it gets overwhelming to manage those things, and that’s why I talk about
unfriending in the book. Sometimes you have to houseclean your list.

Q: Some social networks, including Facebook and Google Plus, have tried to make it easier to
make clear distinctions between friend groups. Do you think the onus is on those companies to make
sure that information gets shared with the right people?

A: These devices, these sites, they’re tools — like a car is a tool for driving and there may be
accidents or speeding.

The same is true of social networks. It’s how we use it that defines our experiences.

The onus is on us to be more responsible, to think, “How should I react to this?”

Q: I was surprised by how much of your personal experience you wove into the book, on how you
curated your online presence. Why did you get so personal?

A: It’s hard to put yourself out there like that, particularly wondering what people will
think.

But, being on the front lines of social media, I was going through my own complicated
relationship with technology. And I thought, well, I’ve learned a lot and made mistakes.

If reading my story makes people feel OK with their own complicated relationship with
technology, that’s OK with me.